by Hassan Baig
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Around 155 B.C., the Greek post-classical philosopher Carneades of Cyrene came to Rome as one of the three Athenian ambassadors who had come to beg the Roman Senate for a political favor. A fine had been levied against the citizens of their city, and they wanted to convince Rome that it was unfair. Carneades represented the Academy - the same argumentative open-air institution where three centuries before, Socrates drove his interlocutors to murder him just to get some respite from his arguments. It was now called the New Academy, was no less argumentative, and had the reputation of being the hotbed of skepticism in the ancient world. On the much anticipated day of his oration, Carneades stood up and delivered a brilliantly argued harangue in praise of justice and how administering it should be at the top of our motives. The Roman audience was spellbound. It was not just his charisma; the audience was swayed by the strength of the arguments, the eloquence of the thought, the purity of the language, and the energy of the speaker. But that was not the point he wanted to drill. The next day, Carneades came back, stood up, and orated the diametrically opposite of his speech from yesterday. He proceeded to contradict and refute with no less swaying arguments what he had established so convincingly the day before. He managed to persuade the very same audience in the very same spot that justice should be way down on the list of motivations for human undertakings. |
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